Ward was delighted to participate in the recent University of Technology Sydney’s Girls in STEM tinker workshop for Year 7-10 students which is designed to encourage more females to choose a career in civil engineering.

The Ward team had a great time answering questions and helping out with the activity – creating a model structure using craft materials, within a set of climatic and socio-economic conditions.

“I enjoyed meeting female engineers/graduates. They provided me with a lot of insight on their field of work and aspects of being an engineer.” – Year 7 participant, 2020

“My favourite part of the workshop was when I got to meet female members of the Ward company.” – Year 7 participant, 2020

We hope we had a positive impact, and would love to see the girls on site in a few years’ time!

Thank you to Lauren Black WEIT Program Coordinator and the team from UTS for hosting us.

Thanks to the Ward team for giving up their time:

• Ying Feng, Undergraduate Engineer
• Kaylene Bosman, Safety Coordinator
• Danielle Amos, Community and Stakeholder Relations Manager
• Olivia Cowell, Estimator
• Vanessa Zbinden, Environmental Coordinator
• Olivia Bryce-Stark, Undergraduate Engineer
• Nicole Sandow, Undergraduate Engineer

Ward is proud of the role we played in the development of this stunning new landmark on Sydney’s skyline.

We have few peers when it comes to the successful delivery of challenging top-down excavation and remediation projects.

It is back to school for the Ward team currently undertaking the Certificate 3 in Civil Construction at Health & Safety Advisory Service.

Well done to Kon Katsaounis, Tyler Stevens, Tyler Afo, Ben Garland, George Mouzourakis, Khodor Khachab and Jamie Reeley who have swapped the construction site for the class room so they can further their knowledge base and also ensure they are up to date with current regulations and technologies.

Thanks also to Lee Wood for making this a rewarding journey for the team.

A commitment to training and the personal development of our team is a business fundamental for Ward.

Ward has been named the Large Civil Construction Business of the Year at the 2020 Master Builders Association Business Leadership Awards.

The National Business Leadership Awards recognise excellence in management best practice, improvement initiatives, innovation, industry leadership and corporate social responsibility. 

Winning this award is a major highlight for the business. In recent times, we have been focusing not only on delivering great infrastructure solutions for our clients,  but improving the way we do business.

This year we have achieved some major objectives, like developing our very first Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan, and receiving our F100 financial rating. We are also continuing our support for the University of Technology Sydney’s Women in Engineering and IT scholarship and our sponsorship of the Sydney Roosters NRLW and Tarsha Gale Cup teams.

A big thank you to our clients for their ongoing support. We would also like to thank our long-term suppliers and subcontractors, as well as the entire Ward Civil team for their hard work and dedication on site every single day.

This year, the Master Builders awards ceremony was held online due to COVID-19 restrictions and we have shared the link to Julia’s award acceptance.

https://vimeo.com/452106551/e373445b0b

We were delighted to host a group of UTS female engineering students for a visit to our warehouse facility and adjacent construction site in Lane Cove West last week.

The students are participants in the excellent UTS Lucy mentoring Program that connects women, including cis- and trans-women, studying engineering or technology at UTS to industry professionals for one-on-one mentoring.

A big thank you to Sarah Lawrence from AECOM and the Ward team – Brianna (Estimator), Michele (Site Engineer) and Olivia (Undergraduate Engineer) for providing insights into their individual career journeys. Thanks also to Project Manager John Gillan for accommodating the site visit.

Ward has partnered with UTS to help improve female participation in our industry. We support its excellent Women in Engineering and IT scholarship program and provide mentors to the Lucy Mentoring program.

It was a great afternoon with lots of questions and interesting observations. We wish all the best to the students as they continue with their studies and hope the visit might be a help when deciding on career direction.

Finally a shout out to Erin, who starts her internship with Ward in November!

Ward has recently been awarded two new projects by the City of Sydney, one at MacDonald Street Erskineville and the other at Portman St Zetland.

The MacDonald Street Widening and Trunk Drainage project at Erskineville will upgrade the public domain and existing stormwater infrastructure to improve amenity and reduce the risk of flooding in the area.

The Portman Street Upgrade project at Zetland is part of the broader Green Square development. The upgrade will improve traffic flow in the area and increase active transport availability.

We are delighted to have been chosen by City of Sydney for the delivery of these two challenging projects and look forward to building a successful relationship with the City of Sydney team and local community.

Estimator Brianna Dorrough is pictured on site with her UTS Lucy Mentee Eliza Dowey.

Eliza is currently completing her final year of a double degree (Bachelor of Engineering – Civil Engineering and Bachelor of Arts – International/Global Studies) and works as an Undergraduate Engineer for @KBR

Brianna was pleased to introduce Eliza to our head office staff to give her an idea of the variety of supporting roles that keep our sites running smoothly.

Brianna & Eliza then visited the Lane Cove West AirTrunk data centre where the team were busy excavating and loading out material.

Last stop of the day was a drive to Sydney Airport to the Northern Pond Bay 83 to 85 Apron Upgrade Project. (pictured)

Thanks to the project teams on both jobs for taking the time of showing Eliza around the sites and giving her more of an insight of working in Engineering.

Congratulations to Erin Andrew, one of two recipients of the 2020 UTS Women In Engineering & IT Cooperative Scholarship for Civil Engineering. Erin’s scholarship has been sponsored By Ward.

Erin is about to start the second semester of her Bachelor of Civil Engineering degree, and we can’t for her to join us on site in November.

There are a number of UTS alumni in the Ward team, which is a testament to the high quality of UTS’ Civil Engineering program.

Ward sponsors the University of Technology Sydney’s Women in Engineering & IT Cooperative scholarships each year to encourage more women to choose a career in civil engineering.

Congratulations and welcome to the Ward team, Erin!

Ward has recently completed the construction of a 2.2Ha Empty Container Park at Simblist Road Port Botany for NSW Ports.

The project included early contractor involvement (ECI) in the design with a scope of work comprised of earthworks, demolition, services relocation & installation, stormwater, pavement and ancillary works.

Well done to all involved for what is an excellent example of collaboration leading to better project outcomes.

Ward is pleased to announce that our prequalified financial rating with Transport for NSW has been increased from F75 to F100.  This means that we are now prequalified to tender project up to a value of $100 million with Transport for NSW (up from our existing cap of $75 million).

A contractor’s financial rating is determined with respect to the amount of working capital contained on its balance sheet, it net tangible asset position, and access to relevant bank funding facilities.  Since the commencement of 2015, our financial rating with Transport for NSW has steadily increased from F25 ($25 million cap) to F100 ($100 million cap).  This is a fantastic achievement which has been driven by the profitability of the business, the dedication of our staff, and the capital management decisions of the Board of Directors.   

Our next target is to obtain our F150 rating.  Both the management team and Board of Directors are committed to achieving this goal.